The Ski Jacket Made of Sugar

One of the big battlegrounds between outdoor clothing manufacturers at the moment is who can be the most environmentally friendly. With the use of recycled or sustainable materials being ever more popular, at least one manufacturer is even going as far as to suggest that people repair damaged gear rather than throw it away and buy new.

Bergans of Norway are claiming to have reached a milestone in the outdoor clothing business by creating a technical ski jacket that uses ‘plant-based material’ – the waste by-product of sugar plant production – in its shell material.

The company’s new Eidfjor jacket (RRP £280) is the first to use the material, christened ‘Ecodear’ and developed in conjunction with a Japanese manufacturer, which is 30% plant based.

The Ecodear polyester outer layer of the jacket is part of a triple layer jacket build. The chemical structure of Ecodear is identical to its regular shell material, Bergans say, so is as functional as always.

The waterproof, windproof but highly breathable Eidfjord jacket is available in sizes S to XXL and is on sale in Tiso and at other retailers.

The new jacket is part of Bergans’ overall focus on sustainability and reducing the industry’s dependency on non-sustainable materials and processes which it has called Expedition 2020. This has a target of 70% of their products to be made of sustainable raw materials and 75% of production methods to be sustainable too. This includes using renewable energy for power in its European bases and using overland transportation by rail from Asia to Europe, rather than air, from its manufacturing bases to the shops.